The Miami Dolphins have ruled out quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for Week 5 against the New York Jets, coach Mike McDaniel said Monday.
McDaniel said Tagovailoa’s MRI came back clean but it’s “too early to give a specific timeline” as to when his starting quarterback will be able to return from the concussion he suffered Thursday night last against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Tagovailoa, who remains in concussion protocol, was at the Dolphins facility on Monday, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
He is expected to be interviewed early this week as part of the NFL and NFL Players Association’s joint investigation into his early return to the Week 3 game against the Buffalo Bills, sources told Adam Schefter of ESPN.
The league and players’ association said Saturday their review is ongoing, but added that they agree that “modifications to concussion protocol are needed to improve player safety.”
A league official told Schefter the investigation is expected to last another week or two and the results will be announced “almost immediately after”.
Tagovailoa initially appeared to have concussion symptoms after the blow to the head late in the first half of Miami’s Week 3 home game against Buffalo, but was cleared by a team doctor and an unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant to return in the second half. Tagovailoa and the team later said his legs were wonky due to a back injury.
After Thursday’s hit, in which 6-foot-3, 340-pound Bengals defensive tackle Josh Tupou threw Tagovailoa backwards into the turf, the quarterback’s hands froze and his fingers flexed awkwardly in front of his face mask for several seconds while lying down. on the ground in Cincinnati. He remained on the ground for several minutes until he was carried out on a stretcher and sent to hospital. He was released from the hospital and returned home with the Dolphins a few hours later.
The NFLPA fired the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant on Saturday, saying in a joint statement with the league that it “expects protocol changes to be made in the coming days based on what has been learned so far in the process. examination”. Sources told ESPN the dismissal came after the consultant was found to have made “several errors” in his assessment of Tagovailoa.
Teddy Bridgewater, who replaced Tagovailoa in the Week 4 loss to the Bengals, starts Sunday against the Jets at MetLife Stadium.
ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques contributed to this report.